Southeast Asia reported 71 fintech deals in 2016, an increase of 29% from 2015; total deal value was down from $177 million at $158 million; angel and seed investments led for the year with 62% of total financings; in 2016, Singapore continued to be the region's most active fintech innovator with 52% of the year's total deals; the top three venture capital investors since 2012 are East Ventures, 500 Startups and Golden Gate Ventures. Source
India has become one of the fastest and most diverse fintech markets in the world; at LendIt USA 2017 we hosted a panel featuring leading India fintech firms; panelists talk about what makes the India market unique and what is the size of the opportunity right now; banks have helped to serve the top of the credit pyramid and micro lending has helped to serve the bottom of the credit pyramid, there is a big opportunity in serving the missing middle; panelists focused on how their lending models differ, the differences in the small business and consumer markets and how India has gone from a data scarce country to a data rich country; Aadhaar has also played a key role in helping to get more people and businesses into the financial system; other areas discussed include borrower acquisition channels and leveraging third party data sources. Source